Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Keep Calm and...

It seems to be everywhere these days!
Keep Calm and Carry On
Keep Calm and Drink Coffee
Keep Calm and Eat a Cookie
Keep Calm and...basically whatever your imagination has the ability to come up with...
Later in May we have a ladies event called Keep Calm and Swap Clothes, but that isn't what I was wanting to share with you today.

There is this moment after Jesus goes to the Cross where his disciples were left in limbo.
Well at least that is what it appears to be for them.
They have seen their Lord and friend die a truly horrible death and He is now in a carved out grave.
They are faced with lots of what if's and what to do now questions.

In hindsight the best advice you could have given them is Keep Calm and Carry On, because God has a plan and it will all work out.
Three days later, as promised, Jesus rises from the dead! He starts appearing all over the place and eventually all the disciples get to hang out again with him. Obviously there was no need to panic.

Then Jesus tells them (before he amazingly flies away before their eyes) to wait some more.
To stay in Jerusalem until something truly cool happens. When somehow, miraculously, they will get power in their life that they have only tasted a little of until this point.
It wasn't the next day, it was days later! The day we call Pentecost happens and boom, it is all on!
Kind of fits that Keep Calm and Carry On thing again...

I also think of King Saul being sent to line up for battle one day.
But this dude knows nothing about Keep Calm and Carry On. He freaks out waiting for the prophet to turn up and decides he can sort it out. History tells us that things didn't go so well...

And here we all are today.
Maybe the best advice we could take on board is this silly little phrase?
Maybe what it says about us, more than the action of waiting on God, is that we truly do trust Him?
Let's Keep Calm and Carry On, trusting God to sort our circumstances whatever they may be for each of us. Doesn't He promise to look after us anyway?

Something to think about...

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Two blokes sitting behind me at a cafe

Have you ever overheard a conversation and it has driven you nuts?
Like the two blokes sitting behind me at a cafe talking about an event. One of them in particular had the details all wrong, but that didn't stop him from passionately blithering on!
I even wondered if the facts didn't matter more than the opportunity to share a comment or even whinge about something. Kind of sad really...

What it did do was to remind me of a few things that maybe we could consider together...

Let's make sure we have our facts right.
The Bible talks about our words having power. It says that God will hold us accountable for what we let fall out of our faces. It even says to let our yes be yes and that our no should really mean no.
Take a few moments to check out things before you share an opinion. It is worth it!

Let's realise how much what we share influences others, their opinions and potentially their life direction.
Believe or not there are gullible people out there. If you spread something wrong and they believe it, then you have damaged someone. And with our human nature of easily believing the worst, some readily accept anything especially if it negative.
You and I are called to something even better and more glorious. 
That the words of our mouths help us bring each other closer to God. 
What we say can change someones eternity! Which I think pretty cool and sobering at the same time.

Let's make sure we know when to get involved and when not to.
Sometimes you have to say something.
I didn't in this case because too many f bombs were being used. 
But earlier in the day I did jump in and help someone randomly and you should have heard the buzz it created in their businesses office. It was fun to watch and nice to know I could make a positive difference.
Can I encourage you to be open to the Holy Spirit and make the most of the opportunities He brings your way? Be wise and cunning and a blessing...

You and I can make this world so much better!

Something to think about...



Wednesday, April 09, 2014

It all can start with a movie...

OK, so unless you have been hiding under a rock...you have probably heard about a movie recently released called Noah.
Maybe you have seen it like me?
And if you troll around the social networks like me, then you would have seen that this movie has a life inside cyber space. Released from its celluloid confines and replayed, beaten up, dissected, and cogitated over, with every possible angle covered.

This will not be one of those commentaries I hope!

Here is what I think based on the happenings around the movie...

Ultimately you and I are responsible for what we believe to be true, right or even noble.
Granted that others and many influences will move us here and there, but again it is our responsibility. A movie should not be the basis of your beliefs no matter how clever or moving.
God has a far more impactful and divine plan for you that will help you make the right discoveries.

What I hope all this hoopla does, is something that this sort of thing should always do...
Drive you to seek out the truth, for what is right, beyond a mere opinion piece or pithy commentary.
My personal hope is that you go back to the source of this whole thing and read the biblical account.
Ask questions based on what it says there, not what some 'guy' saw floating in his Weetbix packet some morning.

I am reminded of that passage in scripture that says...heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. In the context of the hoopla, God is telling me to trust His unfailing Word on the matter. Yes there are details we don't know. But what we do know from Him is all that we need to build a firm foundation on.
You can use your imagination to fill in the blanks yet what we truly need is the firm fact foundation found in the Biblical account. Far more appropriate I feel than what some mystic, who doesn't believe God can, or would, love humanity enough to send His Son, has to say on any matter.

I leave it to you now to dig into and journey towards the truth...

Something to think about...

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Learn From It

I think we all have moments when you feel a bit stupid.
Stupid not because you are dumb, but stupid because we made a wrong call on something.
I can certainly put my hand up for this!
From silly comments I have inadvertently made to actions in the heat of the moment.

One of my boys had to learn this last week when he over-shared with someone something that was very personal to him.
At times like my boy and I face, you can make it so much worse by running away from it. Or dwelling on it. Or trying to over fix something...
I think the key for us is to Learn From It.
To see what we did or what happened as all part of learning and growing and getting closer to the person God believes we can actually be.
Beating yourself up over something only achieves to beat yourself up...nothing more usually.

Peter was one of Jesus closest friends and just at a time when Jesus seemed to be the most complimentary to him, Peter mucks up with some comments and gets rebuked by Jesus.
Jesus later on tells Peter that he would deny Him at the most painful moment of His time on earth.
Of course he denied he would deny Him. And the rest is history.
Jesus later appears to Peter on a beach, cooks him breakfast and lifts him up again.
Why did Christ pick Peter...because he know he would learn from it...

King David is pretty popular among Bible readers and preachers looking for great examples of faith and action. And yet this man wasn't perfection itself.  He had flaws.
But he also showed he had an ability to learn from it.
David seems to show this ability to recognise (eventually sometimes) where he was wrong in his thoughts, motives or actions, and put things right. The ability to learn from the experience.

So what sort of person do you want to be?
Someone known for making mistakes every now with the ability to learn from it?
Or someone who makes mistakes destined to keep repeating them. Destined to be defined by those mistakes.

I believe that God has picked you because you have the ability to learn from your mistakes and not simply be defined by them.
Whatever has happened to you today, yesterday or whenever...
Learn From It.

Something to think about...